Moment 8: Roger Federer frees his backhand Down Under—and starts a renaissance at 35

Is the Big 3’s Grand Slam title race finally over? It appears so. Now that we (probably) know the winner, we’re looking back at the times when this two-decade marathon might have gone a different way.

For more on GOAT Race, a 10-part series leading up to Wimbledon, read...

• Moment 1: 2007 Wimbledon final: Nadal “seizes up” with break points in the fifth
• Moment 2: 2008 Wimbledon final: Federer’s four-hour comeback comes up one break point short
• Moment 3: 2010 US Open semifinal: Djokovic “closes his eyes” and hits two huge, match-saving forehands against Federer
• Moment 4: 2011 Roland Garros semifinal: Federer stops a 41-match win streak, and wags a finger
• Moment 5: 2011 US Open semifinal: Djokovic's all-or-nothing forehand return heard 'round the world
• Moment 6: At 1:37 a.m., Djokovic topples Nadal in grandiose, grunt-filled Aussie Open epic
• Moment 7: Djokovic stumbles into net, opening door for Nadal to seize Roland Garros classic

2017 Aussie Open final: Federer frees his backhand—and starts a renaissance at 35

By 2017, the glory years of the Federer-Nadal rivalry were a distant memory. Federer, 35, was coming back from a knee operation that had kept him out for six months, while Nadal, 30, was mired in a two-year slump, and wasn’t even winning at Roland Garros anymore. The two had faced off just once since 2014, and hadn’t played a Grand Slam final since 2011. In Melbourne, Nadal was seeded ninth and Federer an unthinkable 17th.

But over the fortnight Down Under, a sense of destiny began to take hold. The defending champion, Novak Djokovic, lost in the second round. The top seed, Andy Murray, lost in the fourth. Federer, meanwhile, survived two five-setters, against Kei Nishikori and Stan Wawrinka, and Nadal did the same against Alexander Zverev and Grigor Dimitrov. By the final Sunday, as they prepared to meet in a much-anticipated title match, it felt like they had turned back the clock by a decade.

That feeling continued through their final, which went back and forth for four sets, before concluding with a passage of play in the fifth that packed two careers’ worth of brilliance into a series of whiplash-inducing rallies. Each was trying to exorcise a demon from Rod Laver Arena. In the 2009 final, Federer had lost to Nadal in another five-seter, and broke down in tears afterward. In the 2012 final, Nadal was up a break in the fifth set against Novak Djokovic and lost.

Now Nadal went up a break in the fifth again. But just when Rafa looked like he had taken control, Federer found something new.

“I kept telling myself to play free,” Federer said. For more than a decade, he had tried to free his one-handed backhand from the death grip of Nadal’s lefty forehand. Thirteen years after they first met, he succeeded. Down 2-3 in the fifth, Federer took a topspin forehand from Nadal, and, instead of backing up, looped a ball that pushed Rafa behind the baseline. On his next swing, Federer uncorked a backhand winner and broke back. Free at last, he sprinted to the title. Instead of Nadal claiming his 15th major title, Federer won his 18th. His backhand was also here to stay, as he went on to win four of his last five meetings with Rafa.

Still, the tournament was a rebirth for both men, and the start of an Indian Summer. In 2017, they split the four majors, and they would trade the No. 1 ranking back and forth for another year. Together Fedal proved that there can be second—and third and fourth acts—acts in tennis.